Will a Dictionary Attack Find Your Password?
January 26, 2011
As a personal objection to the whole password problem, many people use a word that’s easy to remember. The most common words used, according to some security experts are “password” and “password1.” Some people use a common date.
These are no match for a dictionary attack.
A dictionary attack uses a targeted technique of successively trying all the words in an exhaustive list called a dictionary (from a pre-arranged list of values). Automated password-cracking tools can check more than a million password variations.
Passwords composed of random strings of upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation can usually withstand an attack, but they are hard to remember.
Some tactics that will create a difficult-to-break password that is easy to remember include:
* Two words connected by a number can withstand many attacks.
* Take the first letter of each word in a phrase and add a number or symbol and a capital letter. For “You have no chance”: Yhnc#72.
There is also a variant of the Dictionary Attack, called Hybrid Dictionary Attack that increases the probability of success. In this case, the password cracker checks all words in the dictionary along with its variations. These can be, for example, the same words with different digits added to them. Hybrid Dictionary Attack is noticeably slower than Dictionary Attack. If the variations include words with two digits appended to them, then the process is 100 times slower. In case of 4 digits appended, it can be 10,000 times slower.
Business Communications: Email, Text or Phone Call?
January 19, 2011
From texting to video to social networking and reading books, mobile phones are taking an ever-expanding role in our daily lives. And young people around the globe are more immersed in mobile technology than ever.
What do baby boomers prefer when it comes to business communications?
The Nielsen Company says that adults in the 45 to 54 age group in general made fewer mobile phone calls in 2010 than in 2009. The study was conducted for The Wall Street Journal. Study subjects on average made 188 mobile phone calls a month. At the same time, people from ages 45 to 54 sent and received 323 texts a month in the second quarter of 2010, up 75% from a year ago, Nielsen says.
Text messages take up less time than phone calls, so is this good news?
On the flip side, a text’s content is so condensed that it routinely fails, even more than email, to give enough information. The receiver has no idea of the sender’s tone and affect. In addition, the text abbreviations can be easily misunderstood by the person receiving the message. Texting’s rise over conversation is changing the way we interact, social scientists and researchers say. We default to text to relay difficult information. So should we assume mobile phone users needed to convey more difficult information in 2010 than in 2009 or are our ways of interacting changing across the board?
Research shows that businesses have overwhelmingly adopted email as a preferred form of daily communication. Email, even short messages are preferable to texting for communicating concepts. Texting is useful for making connections such as checking imminent meeting times or places, for example.
Texting should never replace email or the phone for important communications. When we default to texting for a business message, there is a danger that the recipient will not understand, especially if a wrong key is thumbed.
Texters often say they don’t want to engage in small talk, but at the same time, a moment or two of small talk can improve a relationship with the other party. Turns out actual dealmakers still spend much of the day on the phone. In addition, The Economist states that “reports of the death of the phone call are greatly exaggerated”.
How to Become Indispensable in 2011?
January 18, 2011
Critics say that Linchpin is Seth Godin’s most passionate book and I definitely have to agree. First, he reveals that “there are no longer any great jobs where someone else tells you precisely what to do.” Linchpins who hold great jobs don’t just follow orders, they add creativity, innovation and value and thus, create art.
Seth tells how to free people around us so they can become artists, which means creators of unique, compelling and substantial value. It does not matter what these individuals do for living, it is the attitude that matters. Linchpin’s drive and passion make it possible to create art every day.
If people can become artists, “they will rise to a level you can’t even imagine. When people realize that they are not a cog in a machine, an easily replaceable commodity, they take the challenge and grow. They produce more than you pay them to, because you are paying them with something worth more than money …” People crave connection and respect.
As an individual, “You can’t become a linchpin merely because you are different. The only way to become indispensable is to be different,” says Godin. “That’s because if you’re the same, so are
plenty of other people.”
One reviewer says the chapter titled “The Resistance” is worth the price of the book. Readers are
faced with all the reasons they are not as indispensable as they could and should be.
Linchpin is a most unusual, thought-provoking and concise book about becoming indispensable,
whether you work for someone else at any level or are self-employed. Godin’s principles can be
applied to other aspects of life. Linchpins can be better spouses, friends and community members.
They can be indispensable in many ways.
Godin says that if you want customers to flock to you, it’s tempting to race to the bottom of the price chart. There’s plenty of room there, but the only way to win is to race to the top. If you are more human, remarkable, faster, and connect with customers in 2011, you will win.
Are you indispensable? Do you create art?
6 Ways to Grow Your Small Business
November 23, 2010
When Fortune magazine interviewed several leaders of large and small firms, they gave a few eye-opening pieces of advice on how to grow a business. Check these out to determine whether any of their formulas could become growth-growing points in your business.
* Find an edge over competition. Look at your industry’s biggest cost and time constraints and focus on those areas of your business.
* Describe your business in 1-2 words. Own a phrase that illustrates your product or service. Then Google it to see if you have chosen the right one. A beverage company used “enhanced waters” for example.
* Focus on one measurable priority for your company, not a dozen. For 90 days, focus on one problem area of your business.
* Control your cash flow. Construct a business model that fuels your growth without the need for outside financing.
* Use blogs, white papers, YouTube and Twitter to align your marketing materials with the phrase you own.
* Make changes faster. The fastest-moving companies huddle daily to drive their priorities.
Add More Hours to Your Day – The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
March 1, 2010
The most common problem among many small business owners is “time poverty.” Putting in a lot of extra hours could help a little, but it’s not the answer. Neither is trying to do two things at once. Some ideas that may help:
* Become an expert at what you do. Study the workflows of people who are very efficient and copy them. You will often find that they are extremely well organized. Learn from experts in your field.
* Prioritize. What is the most important thing on your list? Concentrate on that alone until you are finished.
* Be open to new ideas. Some overwhelmed people think they already know all they need to know on a subject. Never stop learning.
* Become an expert on time management. Then practice every day until you master time management skills.
Read Getting Things Done by David Allen. This book was released in 2001 and remains a best seller as it fuels global demand for Mr. Allen’s workshops and personal coaching. Amazingly, he has established an industry around a simple approach to getting things done.
What Is the Difference Between a Tri-fold Brochure, Case Study and a White Paper?
January 23, 2010
I have never been a big fan of tri-fold brochures that attempt to convince me that I should buy a particular product or sign up for a certain service. These marketing materials tend not to be persuasive enough due to the fact that information has been crammed into a limited space. The customer benefits are not always obvious, contrary to emotional appeal – nice images, unusual fonts and unique paper may catch my attention, but not for long.
White papers appeal more to me as they provide logic through facts, statistics and quotes from end users or industry experts. They are not flashy, but usually filled with facts. For me, they are much more informative. I consider writing a good white paper a real art form as the author has to be a good researcher, persuasive essayist and a marketer all at once. At the same time, a good balance between the right amount of facts, images, quotes and often industry terms has to be achieved. Case studies tend to focus on customer stories and testimonials whereas white papers add a touch of credibility through unbiased information.
High quality content is becoming increasingly important as people crave useful information and have access to growing number of information channels before making buying decisions. All marketing materials should educate; therefore, business people, especially marketers, need to become avid readers and dedicated students to continuously improve their skills. I am planning to master the art of writing effective white papers in 2010 to deliver quality leads for my own business and customers. I encourage you to do the same. Good content leads to good customers.
Good place to start: White Paper Success Summit 2010, a live online event that will empower participants to attract quality leads and grow their business with educational white papers. I am planning to attend as the list of instructors is impressive. I would love to win a free ticket or two and you can too (until January 25th, 2010) – read more on the Content Marketing Revolution blog and stop by Michael Stelzner’s website.
Why Your Company Needs a Social Media Marketing System in 2010
January 23, 2010
One-way, top-down communication does not work as well as in former days. Today, companies must create conversations with customers and deliver useful content at the moment their prospects, clients or constituents need it. Many firms will need to reinvent their marketing in 2010.
Marketers can’t push products on people. They have to think like journalists and create a dialogue with their audience to earn a prospect’s trust. Free or low-cost applications such as blogs and podcasts, in addition to social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, have changed the old rules. In addition, free social networking applications can be used for managing your company’s reputation, conducting market research, monitoring your competitors’ efforts and collaborating with your colleagues. Twitter can also serve as a platform for your company’s customer service.
Ideal clients can now be reached with targeted messages that cost a fraction of the old expensive advertising campaigns. In addition, social media marketing and PR efforts often allow instant feedback and measurable results, so businesses can immediately see which marketing strategies are working for them and which ones are not. Read more
Are You Fatigued by Facebook and Twitter?
October 15, 2009
Facebook gave us a way to find old classmates and renew friendships, find clients and share ideas.
Email has given us a way to quickly conduct business or send silly stuff to co-workers and friends.
So now we have IM, text messaging, friends on Facebook, and constant communication by 140 characters or less on Twitter.
All of this messaging is great as it is supposed to bring us closer to our friends and find new ones, but if we aren’t careful, these interactions can harm our real-life relationships. Columnist Elizabeth Bernstein quite recently said that she is experiencing Facebook fatigue because loved ones are sending so many photos of their children or parties, forwarding funky quizzes, and posting dozens of jokes. And they are tweeting about their whereabouts and what they are doing at the present moment.
To improve our daily interactions, Bernstein says: Before posting an item, ask yourself if it’s something you would want one of your contacts to send to you. Reward people by responding to interesting messages.
While private blogs can be platforms for political ranting, it can be considered poor form on Facebook to constantly post your political opinions.
Edgy Presentations Add More Power to Your Social Media Marketing
August 11, 2009
I started looking for alternative presentation tools for one of my always traveling friends and found Zoho Show . It is completely free for personal use, presenters can access their presentations from anywhere. You can export your slideshow to PowerPoint if needed, share your presentation online and track how many people have viewed it.
Presentation sharing site Slideshare is growing in popularity, users can upload Word documents, text files, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, PDF files as well as files created with Open Office (odt) and access them from the Slideshare site when presenting. There is a 100 MB maximum allowed upload file size limit.
OpenOffice 3 Impress is a free software for creating effective multimedia presentations. You can use 2D and 3D clip art, special effects, animation, and high-impact drawing tools. It is possible to save your slideshow as a PowerPoint file.
Google Presentations belong to the Google Docs and Spreadsheets family. One advantage that Google Presentations has over PowerPoint is the fact that all steps – the presentation creation, development, viewing and sharing can take place online.
Sliderocket is another emerging web-based tool. Users can incorporate video and publish their presentations online or embed them on their websites. Their free plan provides 250 MB of storage.
And yes, you have to learn presentation design from Garr Reynolds.
Spice up your presentations, spread your ideas!
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From Purple Cows to Tribes and Free Prizes – Seth Godin Has Mastered Edgecraft
August 6, 2009
Cover of Free Prize Inside
In his book, Free Prize Inside, Seth Godin points out that innovation is cheaper than advertising. He defines the “free prize” as that extra, edgy product feature. His examples include swatch watches, frequent flyer miles, Tupperware parties, and portable shredding trucks. Design and style matter, he says.
One chapter describes how brainstorming can become boring. His alternative, “edgecraft,” involves analytical thinking to add something remarkable to a product. His laundry list of edges includes safety, invisibility, and hours of operation. Much of the book deals with how to sell great innovative ideas to the VIPs of any given company.
Purple Cow taught marketers the importance of standing out from the crowd. But it left readers wondering how to come up with new purple cows.
Free Prize Inside delivers answers.
Godin says that if a product satisfies and gets consumers to tell other people what you want them to tell other people, it’s not a gimmick. It’s an experience worth talking about. It’s a soft innovation.
Anne Fisher of Fortune has told that Godin is a “guru you’d love to discount because he seems so cocky, but it’s hard to do because he’s so rarely wrong.”
I love Seth Godin’s books, as they are always thought provoking, insightful,
unusual, edgy, non-academic and inspirational.
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